6 Suggested Answers

Hi,
a 6ya expert can help you resolve that issue over the phone in a minute or two.
Best thing about this new service is that you are never placed on hold and get to talk to real repairmen in the US.
the service is completely free and covers almost anything you can think of.(from cars to computers, handyman, and even drones)
click here to download the app (for users in the US for now) and get all the help you need.Goodluck!

MFC-5440CN saved from the tip!"Unable to Clean" message - found TrickyDicky's sltn 4 for various printers.Went into maint mode as per sltn 4 - verified error 46."The user can establish the internal Machine Error Code as follows: pull the mains cable out of the machine (power off), hold down the Menu/Set key, re-insert the mains cable into the machine (power on). The internal Machine Error Code will be displayed."

Keyed in 80 - stepped through the items with "down" key and located Purge Counter."Press the 2, 7, 8, and 3 keys in this order to reset the purge count to zeroPress the Stop/Exit key to return to the initial stage of the maintenance mode.Press the 9 key twice to return to the standby state."This worked brilliantly - no need to tamper with any parts of the printer. Purge Counter reset did it all. Fully functional printer.Thanks TrickyDicky for info on verifying the error code and purge reset

Machine Error 46 ("Unable to Clean") indicates that the wasteink is full. Basicly it gives you two options - have it replaced (a semi-complicated performance which requires buying a spare part and change it yourself) or have it sent to service. If you do not have any warranty on the machine, the more suitable would probably be to just replace the machine instead, since it's relatively cheap compared to both service costs and having the wasteink replaced, but you instead get a full new warranty on your new machine.
Unfortunately, there's nothing you yourself can do to remove this error, without actually changing an item inside the machine.

I have had this problem with multiple different Brother products and this has worked for me every time providing your network is up and running.
Reason behind problem: Brother uses a Network Name for the device for access to the printer by the TCP/IP Port, occasionally your dns cache will hold the incorrect IP address for the printer and you need to force the network name to point at the correct IP.
**Note the steps to find your printer IP may change depending on the model of your printer but you can find out where it is in your manual if this doesn't work.
1. On your printer press the menu button.
2. Naviagate to LAN -> TCP/IP -> IP Address
3. When you press ok on IP Address it should show the printers current IP at the top of the page. It will look something like 192.168.0.164 keep a note of this.
4. Back on your computer go to Control Panel
5. Open printers (this may vary slightly by operating system)
6. Find your Brother MFC and right click on it. Then press Properties.
7. Click on the Ports Tab.
8. Select the port that has a tick next to it and press Configure Port...
9. Note down the Port Name: It will be something like BRN_984B5C
10. You can now close all of the printer windows.
11. Open File Explorer
12. Go to C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\
13. There will be a file called hosts (no extention) double click on it and choose Notepad to open the file.
14. At the bottom of this document after all the other text you will need to type in the following (using the information we have found):
192.168.0.164 BRN_984B5C
15. Close and save the file. As you are in Vista you may have some funky UAC windows asking if you are sure you want to save etc. etc. just say yes.
That should do it, your printer will now be able to scan, print & fax from the printer and the printer will be able to find you if you do the same from it's menu.
Hope this helps.

Tell us some more! Your answer needs to include more details to help people.You can't post answers that contain an email address.Please enter a valid email address.The email address entered is already associated to an account.Login to postPlease use English characters only.

Related Questions:

How to the Reset Purge Counter on a Brother Printer (With a Numerical Pad)
The 'Unable to Clean: Machine Error 46? message prevents you from printing on your Brother inkjet printer. It is especially frustrating when you realise there no reason why you can't carry on printing other than this message. Continue reading to find out what makes me say this and how you can rid yourself of this error.
This guide will deal specifically with Brother inkjet printers that have a number pad on the front of the printer. If you printer has a touchscreen as well as a numerical pad please see here. If however your printer does not have a number pad at all, the guide found here should be of use.
What is Error 46?
'Error 46: Unable to Clean' indicates that your Brother printer believes the ink absorber in the base of your printer is saturated with ink and any further printing could cause ink to overflow. How full this waste ink tank is has been estimated by monitoring how many pages your Brother printer has produced and how many manual/automatic cleans have performed. Sadly this is not a particularly accurate method of measuring how full an ink absorber is and the majority of the time your printer could prints hundreds of pages before there was any danger of any ink escaping. However getting the waste ink tank changed and resetting the counter can be an expensive procedure if you get a service centre to do it on your behalf. In many cases owners of Brother inkjet printers report the cost of the procedure outweighs the value of their printer.
With this in mind we suggest resetting the purge counter of your Brother printer using the method described below and continuing to use it until waste ink begins to overflow inside/outside the printer. This ensures you get the most out of your printer and can avoid replacing it until it becomes necessary to do so. I do however recommend you protect any surfaces around the printer should you decide to reset the purge counter to save any surfaces becoming stained with printer ink.
What printers will this reset work with?
This reset procedure should be compatible with almost any Brother inkjet printer with a numerical keypad on the printer itself (and not touchscreen panel) and has been tested on every current compatible printer at our disposal. You can find a full list of compatible printers below:Brother MFC-210C, MFC-215C, MFC-3240C, MFC-3340CN, MFC-3342C, MFC-410CN, MFC-420CN, MFC-425CN, MFC-5440CN, MFC-5840CN, MFC-620CN, MFC-640CN, MFC-640CW, MFC-820CW, MFC-235C, MFC-260C, MFC-240C, MFC-3360C, MFC-440CN, MFC-465CN, MFC-5460CN,MFC-5860CN, MFC-660CN, MFC-665CW, MFC-680CN, MFC-845CW, MFC-885CW, MFC-250C, MFC-255CW, MFC-295CN, MFC-297C, MFC-490CW, MFC-5490CN, MFC-5890CN, MFC-5895CW, MFC-6490CW, MFC-790CW, MFC-990CW, MFC-J615W, MFC-J220, MFC-J265W, MFC-J410, MFC-J415W, MFC-J430W, MFC-J5910DW, MFC-J625DW, MFC-J6510DW, MFC-J6710D, MFC-J6710DW, MFC-J6910DW, MFC-J825DW
If you have a printer with a numerical pad not covered above and find the purge counter reset works for you then please let us know so we can update our list.
Video Guide
Purge Counter Reset Instructions
Please note that some of the terms used below to describe buttons may change from one printer to another. For example:

START may be down as MENU or SET on your printer or be a green button

STOP may be referred to as EXIT or a red button

Before you begin the reset procedure your Brother inkjet printer needs to be in maintenance mode, but depending upon the model of your printer the method of doing this will vary. For most modern Brother printers please try the following:

With the printer turned on and ready to print remove the power cable from the printer (or turn the printer off if you have a fixed power cable).

Hold down MENU/SET/START and re-insert the power cable/turn it back on.

Keep the button held down until the screen reads MAINTENANCE.

If your screen does not now say MAINTENANCE it will need to be put into maintenance mode using one of the two methods below:

Printers WITHOUT a Fax: Hold down Menu/Set and the Black Start key before pressing the UP arrow four times.

Now your printer should say MAINTENANCE on the screen and you are ready to begin the process of actually resetting the purge counter.

Type in 80 using the numerical keypad.

Use the DOWN key to locate the purge counter. eg. PURGE0060025

Use the number pad to enter 2783 (this should zero the numbers after PURGE).

Press STOP/EXIT to return to the first stage of maintenance mode.

Press 9 and 9 to exit maintenance mode.

Your purge counter is now reset and you can now resume printing as normal. If however this has not cleared the error message I advise going through this guide again following the instructions to the letter. If the error persists please let us know.I hope you have found this guide useful. If however you have anything to add or any further questions please don't hesitate to let us know in the comments.

The problem is due to the fact that Brother machines excessively self-clean. Each time they self-clean a small amount of inkis dumped in to a holding tank/sponge. When a predefined number of self-clean operations have been performed, the machine refuses to printand gives the error messageyou have stated. Brother state that the tank/sponge must be replaced before the counter is reset, again by a Brother agent.However, there is a way of reseting the self-clean counter yourself - if you Google your model number and the error code somewhere in the results you'll find how to do it. The only risk of doing this without changing the tank/sponge is that it will eventually overflow and leak out the bottom, but I did my Brother all in one some time ago and have had no problems yet.

Poor Line Connection indicates an issue with your telephone line (Page 136). If you are sharing the fax line with any splitters or computers, try connecting the MFC-490CW directly to the phone jack and send a fax. If you are still getting a Poor Line Connection error message, call the telephone company and have a repair technician check your telephone line.

Out of Memory error message means the machine's memory is full (Page 138).

Try pressing Stop/Exit and wait until all current operations finish and try again.

System Busy error message wasn't in the manual, but I suspect it means there's a current operation in progress and the machine needs time to finish before moving on to another job. Just wait for the current job to finish, then try again.

Machine error 46 ("Unable to Clean") indicates the wasteink "sponge" as full, which disables the machine's ability to clean. To fix this, you could get the needed part from a Brother parts dealer and enter the servicemode to reset the counters. However, the more reasonable thing to do would be to just change to another machine. You could also have the machine sent to service, but that most likely would not be worth the trouble.
The error is pretty common on old Brother inkjets, so it'll come back eventually even if you replace the part. Newer machines should not have this problem.

MFC-5440CN saved from the tip!"Unable to Clean" message - found TrickyDicky's sltn 4 for various printers.Went into maint mode as per sltn 4 - verified error 46."The user can establish the internal Machine Error Code as follows: pull the mains cable out of the machine (power off), hold down the Menu/Set key, re-insert the mains cable into the machine (power on). The internal Machine Error Code will be displayed."

Keyed in 80 - stepped through the items with "down" key and located Purge Counter."Press the 2, 7, 8, and 3 keys in this order to reset the purge count to zeroPress the Stop/Exit key to return to the initial stage of the maintenance mode.Press the 9 key twice to return to the standby state."This worked brilliantly - no need to tamper with any parts of the printer. Purge Counter reset did it all. Fully functional printer.Thanks TrickyDicky for info on verifying the error code and purge reset